Pilibhit District Magistrate Vaibhav Srivastava said that the headmaster was suspended because he was not making the students sing the national anthem.

"If the headmaster wanted to teach another poem also to the student, he should have sought permission. If he makes students recite a poem and not the national anthem, then there is an offence against him,"the District Magistrate said.

The suspended headmaster Furqan Ali, 45, however, denied the allegations.

"Students regularly sing the national anthem and the poem by Iqbal is part of the Urdu syllabus for classes one to eight. VHP and Hindu Yuva Vahini workers held protests outside the school and at the Collectorate, demanding my removal. I only got a poem, which is part of the government school syllabus, sung. My students also raise patriotic slogans suchas 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' every day during the assembly," he said.

The Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) of Pilibhit, Devendra Swarup, meanwhile, said that the complaint by VHP and Bajrang Dal members was not against whether the national anthem is sung or not -- it was an objection against the poem by Iqbal.

VHP's district chief, Ambarish Misra, said he opposed a'madrasa prayer' being recited at a government primary school.

"We gave a written complaint to the BSA demanding action against the headmaster for getting a different prayer recited at government school," he said.